"Ornado de tapicerías y aparadores de muchas vaxillas de oro e plata." Magnificence and power in palatial architecture from Castile in the Late Middle Ages

Abstract

In the highly ritualized society of the Middle Ages, spectacle and ceremony had great powers of propaganda and legitimization. Cities, churches and palaces were adorned with works of art, tapestries, textiles and other decorations. It is difficult to comprehend the word “magnificence” when contemplating the bare walls of a hall in a palace, or to understand the expositive function of medieval churches in its full dimension, where ranged from beautiful objects to exotic offerings were exhibited. Time has left us only their denuded architecture, without the “life” and emotion of their ornaments. The text, “Ornado de tapicerías y paradores de muchas vaxillas de oro y plata”, centered in practice banquet, aims to reconstruct this visual context, in which the work of art was fundamental.